ARMAGH boss Kieran McGeeney declined to give his take on the latest changes to the new rules, insisting it is now time to focus on the football.
Six proposed Football Review Committee amendments were approved ahead of the sixth round of NFL fixtures.
The most significant tweak curtails the involvement of goalkeepers in opposition territory, with teams now required to keep four players in their own half.
Possessing a keeper with the attributes of Ethan Rafferty — who has kicked 0-12 in his four starts this season — left Armagh well equipped to avail of the 12-v-11 scenarios that were commonplace in the first five rounds of the league.
But in their first game since the FRC moved to prevent teams from having a numerical advantage in the opposing half, the Orchard recalled Blaine Hughes in Rafferty’s place.
Neither Hughes nor Kerry counterpart Shane Ryan advanced beyond their own halfway line during the Kingdom’s 2-21 to 0-17 win in Tralee on Saturday evening.
But McGeeney said: “I don’t want to talk about the rules. At this stage you must be sick of it.
“And then when I say it, you have whingers out there telling me I’m whining, which is rich coming from some of them, the biggest whingers I’ve ever seen.
“I’d rather talk about the game. I’m not being disrespectful but at this stage let the egos work away and let us do the football.”
McGeeney — who also revealed All-Star forward Rian O’Neill is unlikely to return for the Championship as he deals with a personal matter — felt his side left themselves with too much to do after ‘a very poor first half’ at Austin Stack Park.
With Dylan Geaney and Paudie Clifford bagging goals for the hosts, the All-Ireland champions were 13 points adrift at half-time as they suffered a third loss of the campaign.
Geezer said: “We’ve been decent for most of the league outside of probably two halves of football.
“But at this level, if you take your foot off the pedal you get punished.”
O’Neill was one of six starters from last summer’s All-Ireland final win over Galway who were absent from the Armagh team, though Ben Crealey and Joe McElroy were introduced from the bench.
Kerry gaffer Jack O’Connor said: “We’re well aware of some of the big players they were missing.
“They showed plenty of heart in the second half. We were 13 up at half-time and they certainly made a game of it.
“I’d have no fear for Armagh. They have plenty in the tank.”
Meanwhile, O’Connor is hopeful that two-time All-Star forward Seán O’Shea is closing in on a return from the knee injury that has sidelined him for three games.
Kerry will conclude their Division 1 campaign against Galway in Salthill on Sunday before attention turns to a Munster semi-final against Cork or Limerick on April 19.
On O’Shea’s fitness, O’Connor revealed: “We’re hoping that maybe in the next couple of weeks he’ll get back on the field.”
